Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Beau Crème is a former self-described national treasure who made his name in the 1980s with a shiny-floored game show on the fictitious Television 1. Crème Delights was as big on lavish prizes and razzle-dazzle as it was low on content, and, unsurprisingly, the fame got to its host’s head.
 
In this high-energy show from Rory Cargill, present-day Crème, no longer in demand, is brought in to front a documentary about the television channel through the ages. The premise might not be entirely original, but it does give Cargill an opportunity to create dynamic sketches and character comedy based on shows emblematic of various eras. It’s all very entertaining.
 
We get spoofs of some of the most notable genres to have taken up screen time over the decades, from a Blue Peter-style show in which things go badly wrong and a dreary 1970s sitcom with its eggy catchphrase to makeover shows, whose brutality Cargill toys with outrageously.
 
It wouldn’t be a true spoof of the biggest television trends without looking at the Celebrity Big Brother-style shows, and for this section Cargill involves the depiction of an actual national treasure. It gets hilariously dark here, the episode marking a turning point in the career of Beau Crème, and the fortunes of Television 1.
 
In this bleakly funny parody, Cargill, committed and extremely active throughout, goes through several costume and wig changes, then looks to the future of broadcasting. A lot of work has gone into this multimedia show directed by Liv Ello (one half of last year’s Body Show with Frankie Thompson), and not a single second is wasted.

Review date: 14 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Ashley Davies
Reviewed at: Assembly Roxy